


Dirtmouth.

by moonorchiids



Series: The Pallor Kingdom [1]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Be nice to me, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Weird Plot Shit, all this shit is weird honestly, because of woolly aphids, canon? we don't know her, edgy shit, everyone has a different name for him, i call him by he/him by the way, i wanted to write more but couldn't come up with anything, oh also the knight is named Erios because I said so, there's 696 words
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:47:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22396558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonorchiids/pseuds/moonorchiids
Summary: Erios arrives at a small town, and he speaks to the only local who's outside at the moment as he rests.(alt title: elderbug and the knight chill for a few minutes)
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Series: The Pallor Kingdom [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1627558
Kudos: 14





	Dirtmouth.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [my lads over on discord](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=my+lads+over+on+discord).



> wow ok i did this  
> i just started hollow knight and wow that's good shit  
> i was sad because my AO3 was just sort of rotting in my remembered passwords and I never even used it but now I do I guess  
> also the knight is named Erios because i said so, but everyone calls him something different  
> okay i'll just shut up now, enjoy your mcnuggets

Erios was running. He didn't know what he was running from, but he was running.   
He was going to die, but he didn't know what was killing him.  
He balanced himself on his nail, the void particles flowing freely. He was going to die. He was going to die.  
He hadn't grasped mortality right until the point he had truly experienced it. A crack was forming in his mask. His spine twisted so that his face was pointed at the ground, his only balance being his shuddering arms on his old, broken nail. He lifted his head lightly, and just kept going. He was going to die if he didn't.

Erios ran, and ran until his scorched body screamed at him to stop. He was going to die if he stopped, but the exhaustion was so prevalent. It'd be so easy to just sleep and dream and never wake up.  
But Erios had to keep going. His home was far behind him, but it wasn't home. Not anymore. Erios just kept running. He needed a new place to call home, but he felt in his very being it would not be that easy. 

Erios finally came to a stop, muttering to himself mentally, though he knew exactly that nobody else could hear, because not a word came out...or a noise at all. 

With your bag full of dresses and butcher's knives...Oh, little ghost...Nobody knows where you've been, or what you love most. But they all look so ugly and mean when you're sober...You've auctioned away all your crimson and clover.

It was a little rhyme he had heard years ago. In home...home. He shuddered at the very thought. Home. What a dark place he had left. It was...dark. That's all he could say about it really. He didn't know what to think of home, but it didn't feel like home. He didn't know what home really felt like, but he was almost positive he would know it when he felt it. He just walked and walked, he didn't wait to look behind him. Soon, he saw something in the distance. He drew his nail, believing he'd find only misery and poverty and something that would try to kill him, but when he was there, all he saw was what appeared to be an elderly man.

He was hunched over with a frown on his face, and sat beside a bench, oddly enough, not sitting ON the bench, though this was a logic he didn't question. The knight mustered courage, and pointed a tiny hand at the fellow, and waved. The elderly bug waved back, and with a grin, stated simply "Ho there, traveller. I'm afraid there's only me left to offer welcome. Our town's fallen quiet you see." The elderly fellow remarked, seemingly tangenting mid-sentence. _I didn't ask._ Erios growled, mentally, however allowed the man to continue, putting his nail back on his back instead of preparing to strike with it, remembering his manners although he would hardly need to heed it later on.

"The other residents, they've all disappeared. Headed down that well, one by one, into the caverns below." The elderly fellow stated, almost morosely. _That's...odd._ Erios remarked mentally, which he conveyed by tilting his head. "Used to be there was a great kingdom beneath our town. It's long fell to ruin, yet it still draws folks into its depths." He explained, seemingly detecting Erios's curiosity with nothing but the tilt of the head. "Wealth, glory, enlightenment, that darkness seems to promise all things. I'm sure you too seek your dreams down there." He added. Erios remained mentally silent. He did not know what he seeked, he just wanted something. What that something was, he'd worry about later.

"Well, watch out. It's a sickly air that fills the place. Creatures turn mad and travellers are robbed of their memories... Perhaps dreams aren't such great things after all..." He finished his statement on a pessimistic note, which Erios simply did not expect.

Erios sat silently on the bench, deciding maybe he should rest a while.

It'd be a while until every muscle in his body would stop scorching.


End file.
